at the end of the end

at the end of the end

 

 

 

 

the void inserts itself

like a damaged book mark,

or maybe the story within the pages

is damaged,

life reads too fast

and as we tire,

the words slow us down to a perusal 

of what we could have been,

 

but when the cover gets closed

by aging fingers,

and life set down on the night stand

 

will the space between what we wanted to be

and what we became

have its own epilogue

or will we just turn out the light

and go to sleep.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

12/23/15

Reviews

[redzone]

you know Jacob, humans are the only species on the planet that is aware of our consciousness as well as our mortality and this has raise both philosophical and artistic questions on the "meaning of life"... you have raised this question with your wonderful metaphors and make us look at this .. will we disturb the universe or go quietly in the night??? will our lives count for something or will we just be another cog in the machine?? will we have really lived?? each of us answered this question in our own way, but i believe there is nothing more important than to live to change all the madness that confront the world today...

I enjoyed your poem Jacob, thanks for keeping this question artistically alive.

redzone

[jacob erin-cilberto]

we sure hope our lives will count for something, don't we? thank you for your kind review, Curt.read morewe sure hope our lives will count for something, don't we? thank you for your kind review, Curt.
j.

[Alfred Kukitz]

Just the other night I went off to sleep, light on, book in the bed come morning. I had a post Vietnam epilogue, I wanted to fly but the old man sheared my wings.

Thanks for poetry Jacob!

Regards,
Al

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for sharing, Al.

j.

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

Life goes on. No matter the losses or gains, the joys or pains. Life goes on. It always has and always will.

Youth lends the spark of rainbow, while age lends the quiet flickers of candle glow. Either way, we are but a breath; and life goes on.

Your words struck the chords of my heart tonight.

This is really beautiful.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, Linda Marie...

j.

[Gaurav]

Very well written words on the beauty of life and ending that proceeds from the birth. The light in the end they say is worth waiting. Thankyou for sharing Sir.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Gauraw

j

[h d e rushin]

this is not a poem about unhappy endings, or even about endings unfulfilled. I spent the last half of
today looking through photo albums of people who thought they would be here for the Christmas
of 2015. "The void inserts itself" as we found ourselves finishing the sentences and dreams of people
who are no longer with us. My brother who talked of overseas vacations with his wife, my sisters
X who had a 96 Cadillac Deville he wanted to restore , My cousin who was completing his BA degree
online with Phoenix University......are those whose sentences we have to complete. This is a poem
about how getting to the end gives us some comfort.

My triumph lasted till the drums
had left the dead alone
and then I dropped my victory
and chastened stole along
to where the finished faces
conclusion turned on me
and then I hated glory
and wished myself were they"

Dickinson wrote so eloquently....As did you my friend so excellently...

dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow, i am so sorry of those you lost...there has to be some comfort somewhere, sometime...
read morewow, i am so sorry of those you lost...there has to be some comfort somewhere, sometime...

i appreciate your words..and i also like the poem you left me...Dickinson is my favorite poet by far.

[...]

It isn't the end of the story, Jacob, just the end of a chapter. Thoughts are clouds in the open sky of pure awareness. We are sky-borne condensation. Like rain we fall to rise and fall again :)
This was a brilliantly expressed piece of deep creative thought

[jacob erin-cilberto]

your comment is a poem----thank you, lynn...

yes, we are condensation..falling and rising....

j.

[...]

I already wrote it, I'm just using it now :)

[andrew mitchell]

A great title "at the end of an end" Love that word perusal and the last stanza was brilliant lol. Clever write J and what a gem this is!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind review, andrew.

j.

[maricoona91]

This is really great, I love imagery of the book, the night stand, it feels like someone reaching the night of their life near the end. Interesting and engaging!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, maricoona...

j.

[Leslie Philibert]

One of my favourite poets here, this a fine poem, with thematic unity and internal movement, a poetic narrative full of wisdom. All who like good poetry will enjoy this.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Leslie.

j.

[Corset]

wonderful thoughts Jacob, I enjoyed how you likened us all as a story and I believe each of us are, a conglomeration of information about lifetimes, how they work, who they affect, how they affect us as mortals. at the risk of sounding demented, I think the story picks up where it leaves off, only in a different reality, provided you have an ounce of belief. I believe in this way we are granted eternal life.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

wow, such insightful words...a poem in itself what you wrote here...and such truth.

thank you, Corset.

j.